Railway-telegraph



(No Model.) I 3 SheetsSheet 3.

E. B. IVES & C. W. WILLIAMS. RAILWAY TELEGRAPH.

Patented Aug. 18, 1885.

N. PHERS. MLhhuMr. Widllngiun. 5-C- UNITED STATES PATENT Orr cn.

EDWVARD B. IVES, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., AND CHARLES W. WILLIAMS, OF

CAVE CITY, KENTUCKY.

RAILWAY-TELEGRAPH.

' SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 324,381, dated August18, 1885.

Application filed June 17, 1884. (No model.)

T all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, EDWARD B. hues, of the City of New York, in thecounty and State of New York, and CHARLES W. WILLIAMS, of

Gave City, Barren county, Kentucky, both citizens of the United Statesof America, have invented certain Improvements in Railway- Telegraphs,of which the following is a specification, reference being bad to theaccompanying drawings, forming part of the same. Ourinvention relates toa system of railroadtelegraphy in which a continuous electric circuitfrom one point on the road to another point on said road is establishedand main- 1 tained through a car on the road between said points; and itconsists in the peculiar devices and combinations of devices hereinafterdescribed and claimed.

In the drawings which representsuch a sys- 2c tem containing our presentimprovements, Figure 1 is a plan view of four sections of the system,upon the second of which is a train passing from left to right, showingalso the course of the current at the switch block last 2 passed over,and a switch-block and its connections in detail placed at the point ofdivision between sect-ions two and three, together with the battery andline connections before and beyond. Fig. 2 is a detailed view of theconnections of the switch-block between sections one and two of Fig. 1.Fig. 3 is a side elevation of a car the front trucks of which rest uponone section of the rails and the rear trucks upon another section of thesame, showing also two electromagnets of the switchblock and thecontact'conductors, one of which is carried on each side of the car.Fig. 4represents one of the contact-plates which are placed upon theline-conductors. Figs. 5 to 8, inclusive, are Views-of several sectionsof the system, showing the different arrangements of the connections atthe switch-blocks during different periods of its working' Figs. 9 to12, inclusive, are detailed views showing the ;.diiferent positions ofparts of the switch-block ,at; the several periods aforesaid,respectively, and Fig. 13 is a view of four sections of the 1 system,showing a train upon each of two adjacent sections.

--.lhe-.two line-conductors used in this system are shown,- one in fulllines at Y Y Y Y in ends coiled upon a staple, as shown in Fig.

4, which may be driven into an insulated bed-piece located at the sideand in the vi cinity of the rails of the road, preferably with the loopat right angles to the rails, the said plates being in electricalconnection with the line-conductor upon which they are severally placed.

One car of the train is furnished with contact-conductors VVw Wy, one oneach side, which may be one or more wires or strips of metal secured toand stretched tautly between bars bolted to the front and rear trucks ofthe car. They should be flexible and yieldiug, made taut by any suitabledevice, and insulated from the car.

Wire connections are made between these contact-conductors and therespective poles of an instrument on the car, and each conductor must beso placed as to slide along incontact with contactplates upon theline-conductor on the same side of the road. 7

It is now evident that if X and Y were continuous, and were connectedone to one pole of a battery and the other to the opposite pole of saidbattery through ground at the other end of the line, a current wouldflow through the instrument on the car as long as the contact-conductorswere sliding upon the contact surfaces. But it is also evident from thewellknown phenomena of electricity that if another train should comeupon the track be tween the battery and the first train, while bothinstruments on the trains might respond to an instrument at a localstation between them and the battery, yet the instrument be- 5 tween thetrains and the battery will not respond to either of the instruments onthe trains, nor will either of said instruments on the trains respond tothe other so long as the key of said other remains closed. To obviatethis, diffitoo 'culty we divide the line-conductors and the ciontlyshort to insure that but one train at a time shall be upon any onesection, and place at each pointof division a switch-block which whenpassed over by the car will thereby shift the current at that point fromthe line-conductor on one side of the road to that on the other side ofthe road, and continue it in this course so long as any portion of thetrain remains upon the section of the road it enters upon when operatingthe switch-block to shift the current as described, whereby the currentwill flow continuously from one line-condoctor to the other alternatelythrough the cars and the adjacent switch-blocks last passed over, thuspermitting as many trains to be in communication with each other andwith the local stations as there are sections of the road. The rails arealso divided into insulated sections corresponding to the sections ofthe lineconductors, and the points of division between each of thesections of said conductors and of the rails are preferably on a linewith each other across the track, the switch-block connections betweenthe different sections of Y being normally closed and those between theseveral sect-ions of X normally open.

The system as thus far set forth is substantially the same as that shownand described in the drawings and specification accompanying a separateapplication for Letters Patent filed in the United States Patent Officeon the 2d day of May, 1884, by Charles W. Williams, George S. Barnum,and Edward B. Ives.

The invention that we intend herein to claim relates particularly to animprovement in the switch-block by which the shifting of the current isaccomplished, we will now proceed to describe.

In this system the conductorYis called the mainline conductor, as allsections of it are at all times in use, while the conductor X is calledthe auxiliary-line conductor, as no more than two of its sections are atany one time necessarily employed to complete the circuit through anyone train, and it has no battery or ground connections, the successivesections being brought into the circuit -only by the action of theswitchblock.

A battery, 13, Fig. 1, is provided, connected with conductor Y, near 014and ground P, and said conductor Y is also grounded at P, at the otherend of the road.

A telegraph-car entering the system passes the switch-block D, actuatesit to automatically break the connection between a1 and by, normallyclosed, and establish one between ay and bx, normally open, in a mannerto be presentlydescribed with reference to switch-block D, their actionbeing similar. The course of the current is now battery B, wire 17,conduetor Y to my, through switch block D (its parts then having therelative arrangement shown in Fig. 2) to bar, thence by conductor X tocontact-plate Ex, at the side of the train, to contact-conductor WVx onthe train,wire 19, the instrument on the car, wire 20, contactconductorWy, contact-plate E 1 and thence by conductor Y through the interveningswitchblocks in their normal condition to 93 by wire 18 to P, to P, tobattery, as shown in Fig. 1. When the car reaches and is passing switch-block D, the connection between 0 and (1 is broken, and that between cmand (lav established. This continues until the last wheels of the train,have left srction 2. A connection between 0 and dac is then established,that between a and by reestablished, and immediateby thereafter theconnections between cm and (In: and 0t l/ and bat, respectively, arebroken. The path of the current is now battery B, wire.17, conductor Y,to 0 through D, in normal position, through D to dm, thence by conductorX to contact-plate Ear at the side of the train to contact-conductor Wason the train, wire 19, the instrument on the car, wire 20, contactconductor WJI, contact-plate By, and thence by conductor Y through theintervening switch-blocks in their normal condition to 93 by wire 18 toP, to P, to battery, the course as far as cg switclrblock I), beingshown in Fig. 13. It is thus evident that so long as no part of any twotrains are on the same section all trains will be in telegraphiccommunication with each other and the local stations.

The switch-block for automatically shifting the current, as has beendescribed, is shown in detail at D, Fig. 1. It consists, essentially, offour electro-magnets, M M M M", which are fixed upon a convenientplatform or support in the vicinity of each point of division betweenthe sections of the conductors and rails, magnets 1V M beingrespectively excited by batteries B B, conveniently located andconnected, respectively, therewith, there also being wire-connection 7between battery B and section 2 of rail A at a, and wire-coir nection 11between battery 13 and section 3 of said rail at f. The electro-magnetsM M are connected together, so coiled that a current will traverse themin opposite directions, and one of them is connected to one section ofthe rail, as at c, by wire 1, and the other to the adjacent section ofthe same rail, as at d, by wire 2.

M M are excited by a battery, B carried on the car, as shown in Fig. Thepoles of this battery are electrically connected with the rails of theroad, preferably by wires 13 and 14, leading to the frames of the frontand rear trucks, respectively, of the car, and by electric connectionbeing insured between said trucks and their wheels. The position of thecar when the electro-magnets M M are being excited by the batterythereon is that shown in said Fig. 3, the wheels of the front and reartrucks being on different sections of the rails, the circuit beingbattery B,wire 13, the track, preferably through trnck-frame H and wheelG, wire 1 at c, magnet M, magnet M, wire 2, track at d, wire 14,preferably through wheel G, and frame H, battery. Only when the car isin the position shown will the magnets M M be excited, as at all othertimes the wheels G G or equivalent battery-connections being both incontact with the same section of track the circuit is directly from oneto the other along the said track.

a Fig. 1, is the armature of the magnet M, and a is the armature of themagnet M. To the respective ends of the armature a are attachedcontact-pieces s 8 which must be so insulated from said armature that nocurrent can pass from one contact-piece to the other through saidarmature, and wire-connections extend from conductor Y near 03 to s, andfrom conductor Y near dy on the oppositeside of the point of division tos. The two armatures a a are so relatively placed that when neither isattracted by its magnet, but both' are held away from said magnets bysprings S S, respectively, provided for that purpose, saidcontact-pieces s s will make contact with points 19 p on the armature a,and when either armature is drawn to its magnet said contacts will bebroken. The armature a is so hung that either or both ends, if free, maybe forced away from the magnet by the action of the spring S, and hastwo other contact-points, 19* and p, and two sets of contact-pieces, s sand 8 8 mounted upon it, one contactpoint and two contact-pieces beinglocated on each side of the center of said armature. In the vicinity ofthe magnet M and in the plane of movement of its said armature areplaced two other contact-pieces, s s, and four contact-posts, p 1fp pfixed to suitable supports and in such positions with relation to thecontact-points p" p and contact-pieces s s s s that when the armature ais drawn to its magnet it will make contact between 8' and 10 s and p, sand 10 s and p, s and p, s and 19 respectively, and that when either endof a is released,as hereinafter described, and is forced back by theaction of the spring S, the contacts between the contact pieces, points,and

posts at that end of the armature'will be broken, while those at theopposite end may remain closed. Between the contact-pieces s s,the posts9 12 p piand the conductorX near 0.90 and dx,the rail Aat b, section 2,the magnet M, magnet M ,and the rail A at 6, section 3, respectively,connections are made by the several wires 15, 16, 5, 6, 9, and 12.

The electro-magnets M M are furnished with armatures a (0 attached tolevers c 0, each pivoted at one end, 9 g and provided with a catch, 0 c,at the other end, and so arranged that when either of the said magnetsis charged and attracts its armature the catch on the end of the leverconnected thereto will engage one of the ends of the armature a if it isat the same time attracted by its magnet, and will hold said end of a inthe same position until the current through magnet M or M", as the casemay be, ceases,when the catch- ]ever is unlatched by the action of aspring, S S employed therefor, thus permitting the armature at to bemoved away from the magnet M. p The operation of the switch-block, thus0on stituted, is as follows: Let there be a train on any section of theroad, as shown in Fig. 1. (There section 2.) The path of the currentthen is, battery B, wire 17, conductor Y to ay, switch-block Dto bx,conductor X to contactplate Ea: at the side of the car,contact-conductor Vac, wire 19, the instrument on the car, wire 20,contact-conductor WVy, contactplate E3 conductor Y to 0y, wire 3,contactpiece 8, contact-point p, armature 60, contactpoint 12contact-piece .5 wire 4, conductor Y near'dy, and thence to P P andbattery, as heretofore described, and as shown in said Fig. 1. NVhen thetrain arrives at such a point that the telegraph-car straddles theinsulated joint between sections 2 and 3 of the rails, 'as shown inFigs. 3 and 5, the switch- -block begins to be worked, and the followingchanges take place in the following order: An electric current frombattery B flows through the electro-magnets M M, as heretoforedescribed, and they are charged. Armature a is drawn toward its magnet,separating s from p and s from 19 andthus breaking the circuit from myto di, and armature a is drawn toward its magnet, making contact between8 and p and s and thus closing the circuit from 090 to (1:0. (See Figs.5, 6, 9,. and 10.) At the same time contact is-made between 8 and p ands and 19, thereby completing the circuit of battery B through magnet M,the'described wire-connections, and the wheels and axle of that part ofthe train still on section 2, thereby charging magnet M, which attractsits armature a, causing catch 0 on lever c to engage and detain end 72of armature a and contact is also made-between s and p and s and pcompleting the circuit of battery B through magnet M the describedwire-connections,

and the wheels and axles of that part of the section 2, the currentthrough M M ceases and armature a is returned to its normal position bythe stress of the spring S; but armature a is still retained by thecatches c c, as seen in Figs. 7 and 11.. This condition of affairscontinues until the last wheels of the train leave section 2 oftherails. Then the circuit of battery B, which was completed by means ofthe wheels and axle of a car on section 2, is interrupted, the currentthrough M ceases, a is drawn-to its normal position by spring Shearryingwith it catch-lever c, and thereby releasing end h of armature a fromcatch 0, which end of, a is at once forced up by the stress of spring S,as shown in Fig. .2. End h however, is still held down by catch 0", andsocontinues as long as any pair of wheels remain on section 8. The end hof armature a mov ing up breaks contact at 8 p and 8 19 makes contact ats 10, and then breaks it at '8 shown in Figs. 8, 12, and 2. .It will'beohservedthat there is a period during whichp p is in contact with sbefore 1) has left a", (see Fig. 12,) the contact pieces and pointsbeing adj usted to allow this condition of aii'airs, and thereforeconnection from cy to dw is established a moment before that from cm todx is broken. At the time end h of armature a" was moving up the currentthrough magnet M of block I) ceased, because the last axle and pair ofwheels through which the circuit was completed left section 2 of therails, and spring S of block D, drawing back armature a and lever o ofthat block, disengaged catch 0 from the end h of the armature a therein,and its spring S forced up its end h to its normal position, the contactpieces and points thereon being so arranged that point 17 makes contactwith contact-piece s an instant before point p" leaves contact-piece s,and therefore connection from my to by is reestablished an instantbefore that from cry to bar is broken, thus preventing any break in thecontinuity of the flow of the current through the instrument on the carduring the working of the various switch-blocks.

The action of the switch-blocks, as is obvions, will be similar whenactuated by a train moving from right to leftinstead of from left toright, the movement of the ends of lever-armature a being simplyreversedthat is, h" would be first forced up and h second, instead ofvice versa, the connections, whichever way the train is moving, beingbroken between the adjacent ends of the main conductor and es tablishedbetween the adjacent ends of the auxiliary conductor while parts of thetrain are on each side of the point of division, and established betweenthe end of the main conductor of the section last passed over and thatof the auxiliary conductor upon which the train is running and brokenbetween the adjacent ends of the auxiliary conductor the moment thetrain is entirely upon that section, and at the same time theconnections at the block preceding the onelast passed over beingrestored to their normal conditions, thus insuring the continuouspassage of the current from the battery through the main conductor tothe last switch-block behind the nearest train, through saidswitch-block to the auxiliary conductor of the section upon which thetrain is running, thence to the main conductor through the telegraph-carand its connections, and along said main conductor to its end, eitherdirectly or through other switch-blocks and trains, if any others areupon the road, as described, and thence to ground and battery, andrendering it possible for an operator on the telegraplrcar to at anytime communicate with anyother operator, either at a station or uponanother train upon the road.

We have described the line-conductors and the contact-conductors asbeing placed on opposite sides of the track and car; but it isobviousthat both line-conductors inightbe placed on one side between orabove the rails of the track, and both contact-conductors on one sideabove or beneath the car, care being taken to insulate onecontactcomluctor and one linecouductor from the other contact and lineconductors, and to so arrange them that one of the contact-conductorsshall slide upon or in contact with the plates on the main -lineconductor, and the other upon or in contact with those upon theauxiliary conductor.

What we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is

1. The combination, with two sections of the main and auxiliaryconductors and two sections of the rails, of the described switch-block,which consists of two electro-magnets, their described connections, twoarmatures and their attachments, and two independent contactpieces andtheir connections, one of said magnets being connected to one section ofone of said rails, the other to the adjacent section of said rail, bothconnected together, and each provided with an armature, to one of whicharmatures are secured contact-pieces s s, con nected with the saidrespective sections of the main conductor, and upon the other of whicharmatures are contact-points p 12, adapted to make contact with saidlast-named contactpieces, and other contact-points, p 1), adapted tomake contact with the said independent contact-pieces s s, which arerespectively connected with the said two sections of the auxiliaryconductor, and a car on the track carrying a battery, the poles of whichare respectively in electrical connection with different points of thetrack upon which the car is running, all arranged and combined, asdescribed, whereby, when one of the poles of said battery is inelectrical connection with one section of the track and the other withan adjacent section of the same, the said magnets will be charged andwill attract their respective armatures, thereby'breaking the existingconnection between the adjacent ends of the said two sections of themain conductor and closing the connection between the adjacent ends ofsaid sections of the auxiliary conductor, all as and for the purposespecified.

2. The combination of a mainline conductor, connected with a battery andproperly grounded, and an auxiliary conductor, both running parallelwith a railway-track, all divided into suitable corresponding insulatedsections, and provided at each point of division with the describedswitch-block and wire-connections for breaking and closing the circuitat such points, and a railway-car on the track provided with suitablemeans for establishing and maintaining constant electrical connectionbetween said 1ine-eonductors through the car, and the described meansfor automatically operating said switch-blocks by the movement of thecar to break the connection between the adjacent sections of the mainconductor and close that between the adjacent sections of the auxiliaryconductor while the train is passing said switch'block, and to makeconnection between the end of the section of the main conductor lastpassed over and the adjacent end of the succeeding section of theauxiliary conductor, and break the connection between the adjacentsections of the auxiliary conductor as soon as the entire train is uponthe succeeding section of the system, all as and for the purposespecified; I

3. The combination of a main line conductor connected with a battery andproperly grounded and an auxiliary conductor, both running parallel witha railway-track, all divided into suitable corresponding insulatedsections, andprovided at each point'of division with the describedswitch-block, and wire-connections for breaking and closing the circuitat such points, and a railway-car on the track provided with suitablemeans for establishing and maintaining constant electricalconnectionbetween said line-conduct ors through the car, and thedescribed means for automatically operating said switch-blocks by themovement of the car-to break the connection between the adjacentsections of the main conductor and close that between the adjacentsections of the auxiliary conductor while the train is passing aswitch-block, and as soon as the entire train is upon the succeedingsection of the system to make connection between the end of the sectionof the main conductor last passed over and the adjacent end of thesucceeding section of the auxiliary conductor and between the adjacentends of the main conductor at the point of division next preceding thatlast passed over, and immediately thereafter to break the existingconnection between the adjacent ends of the auxiliary conductor at theswitch-block last passed over and that. between the main and auxiliaryconductors at the preceding switch-block, all as described and for thepurpose specified.

4. The combination, withtwo adjacent insulated sections of the rails ofa railway, of an electro magnet, the respective ends of the coil ofwhich are connected to the two sections of said rail, respectively, andhaving an armature provided at one end with contactpieces, two posts soplaced that said contactpieces will make contact therewith when thearmature is drawn to its magnet, one of said posts being connected to a'second electromagnet and to one section of the rail, a secondelectro-magnet provided with an armature attached to a lever pivoted tovibrate in the plane of movement of the armature of the first magnet,and having a catch adapted to engage the end of said armature, a batteryone of the poles of which is connected to the said second electro-magnetand the other to the other rail of the section with whieh thecontact-post aforesaid is connected, and the wheels and axle of a carhaving thereon a battery whose poles are electrically connected to thetrack, as described, all arranged and combined as described, so thatwhen'said car rests upon two adjacent sections of said rails the circuitof the battery on the car is closed through the first magnet, which isthereby charged and attracts its armature, causing it to' make contactbetween the contactpieces and posts, as described, thus completing thecircuit of the local battery through the second magnet, which isthereupon charged and attracts its armature, carrying the lever providedwith the catch,-and causes said catch to engage and hold the end of thearmature of the first magnet, as and for the purpose specified.

' 5. The combination, with the two rails of a section of a railway, ofan electro-magnet, a local ba'ttery,two contact-posts, with electricalconnection between one pole of the battery and the magnet and the otherpole and one of the said rails, and between one of the contactposts andsaid magnet and the other contactpost and the remaining rail of the samesection of the railway, a lever provided with contact-pieces in contactwith said posts and each other, said magnet being provided with anarmature attached to a leverpivoted to vibrate in a plane of movement ofthe first lever, and having a catch adapted to engage and hold the endof said first lever, and the wheels and axles of a car on said sectionof the rails, whereby the circuit through said magnet is completed, andthe magnet is charged and holds its armature, keeping the catch on onelever in engagement with the other lever so long as any part of thecarremains on the sections of the rails with which the connections aremade, all as and for the purpose specified.

6. 'In a railway-telegraph, the combination of one section of the mainconductor and the succeeding section of the auxiliary conductor, avibrating armature having thereon contactpoints arranged to makecontact, respectively, with contact-pieces, one in connection with saidsection of the main conductor and the other with the said section of theauxiliary conductor, said contact-pieces, contact-posts with electricalconnection between one of them and an electro magnet and the other, andthe rail in the section corresponding to that of the auxiliaryconductor, contactpieces upon the said vibrating armature electricallyconnected and 4 arranged to make contact with said posts, and a springarranged to put and hold one contact point on said armature against thecontact-piece in connection with the main conductor, an electro-magnetprovided with an armature, attached to which is a lever pivoted tovibrate in the plane of movement of the first vibrating armature, andhaving a catch adapted to engage and hold the end of said firstarmature, a battery connected to said magnet and the other rail of thesection, and the wheels and axle of a car thereon, whereby the circuitthrough said magnet is completed, and the magnet is charged and holdsits armature, keeping the catch on its lever in engagement with the endof the first armaturelever, and thereby maintains the circuit from onesection of the main conductor to the succeeding section of the auxiliaryconductor so long as any part of a car remains on the section of therails with which the connections are made, all as described, and for thepur pose specified.

7. The combination, with the described catch-1evers,of a vibratingarmature, provided with contact-pieces, and attached to a spring pivotedand arranged relatively to said catchlevers as described, whereby, wheneither end of said armature is held by engagement with the catch-leveradjacent thereto such end of the armature is held in electricalconnection with the described auxiliary conductor, and the contact-pieceon said end of the armature is held in contact with contact-posts in itsvicinity, the other end of said armature being held meanwhile inelectrical connection with the adjacent section of the main-lineconductor, all as and for the purpose described.

EDWARD B. IVES. CHAS. W. 'WILLIAMS.

\Vitnesses:

M. O. BLAINE, G. H. SMITH, W. T. VVILLIAMS, (J. J. Uri-torn.

